


You Either Die a Hero

by KittenKong



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: A little blood and gore but not too much I don't think, Akumatized Adrien, Akumatized Chat Noir, Akumatized Ladybug, Akumatized Marinette, Also a little Anti-Hero action, At least to me it isn't, I guess it's mine now?, I wrote it so, I'm honestly not sure what this is, It's not described that graphically, but hey, maybe you could see a little bit of shipping if you squint, straight up murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 03:15:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6783040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittenKong/pseuds/KittenKong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien and Marinette didn’t turn up for school on Wednesday.<br/>It wasn’t unusual for Adrien not to come to school. Photoshoots for his father sometimes got in the way and he often missed a day here or there.<br/>It was slightly unusual for Marinette to miss school. Sure, she was almost always late, but she hardly ever missed a full day. She must have been really sick.<br/>Adrien and Marinette didn’t turn up for school on Thursday.</p><p>Originally written for Adrinette April, but I never finished the other pieces... so I thought I'd post it as it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Either Die a Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I'm rather new to AO3 (but not new to fanfiction). I'm trying to start afresh on a new website, under a new username. That being said, it's been a while since I have written fanfiction, so I think I'm a bit rusty. This is also my first Miraculous Ladybug fanfic... so I hope I've done alright. Onwards!

Adrien and Marinette didn’t turn up for school on Wednesday.

It wasn’t unusual for Adrien not to come to school. Photoshoots for his father sometimes got in the way and he often missed a day here or there.

It _was_ slightly unusual for Marinette to miss school. Sure, she was almost always late, but she hardly ever missed a full day. She must have been really sick.

Adrien and Marinette didn’t turn up for school on Thursday.

It was very unusual for Adrien to miss two days of school in a row. Photoshoot or no, he would appear sometime during the day to collect work before being dragged back off to wherever he was required.

The bakery was closed that day.

They were both reported missing that afternoon.

Adrien and Marinette had disappeared from their bedrooms in the time it took Tuesday night to turn into Wednesday morning. No ransom, no calling card, no sign of struggle. It was like they’d disappeared into thin air.

Or walked out.

But how could Marinette climb down from her balcony without somebody seeing her?  How could Adrien, with all the security the Agreste Mansion sported, have gotten out without so much as a sighting, on camera or by staff?

Marinette’s parents opened up the bakery again on Friday. They couldn’t afford to be closed for long. Adrien’s father stayed quiet, but all flights were canceled, and he spent most of his time at home.

Alya and Nino worried.

On Saturday, a body was found.    

A middle-aged man, stubble on his chin, blood dripping down from his mouth. He carried a knife and a photo of a woman, a note tucked into his jacket pocket explaining that if he could not have her, nobody could, and he was to join her in the afterlife.

Complete organ failure mauled his insides.

No drugs, no wounds, no bruises.

On Sunday, people began to notice.

Five days without an Akuma attack, five days since Ladybug and Chat Noir had been spotted on the Parisian skyline. People began to think they had won – that Hawkmoth was no more and gone.

So then why did the sky seem darker?

On Monday, the note was found.

A store that sold mirrors and lighting found with every mirror smashed to pieces – no sign of impact marked their backs. It was as if they had shattered with no reason.

A store employee was found with his throat slit as though mauled by a rabid animal. He was covered in papers linking him to a violent robbery several years ago that had never been solved.

His blood dripped from a paper on his thigh, words written delicately in black pen across stained white paper.

_You either die a hero…_

On Tuesday, three more bodies were found. A warehouse, atmosphere cold and broken, full of people who sold others.

One had claw marks down his abdomen, bloody and clean, made by something sharp.

Another had a mark around their neck like thin wire had cut and cut and cut down into the flesh.

The last no longer had a left side. It was rotten and broken and _not there_ but the rest of the body showed no rot, no injury.

_You either die a hero..._

Adrien and Marinette had not been found.

On Wednesday, it was quiet.

That night people spotted a boy in cat ears and a girl with pigtails leaping building over building. They sighed in relief. Their heroes had returned. They were safe.

On Thursday, Collège Françoise Dupont was covered in spray paint. Words dripped in red and white and black.

_You either die a hero…_

Paris lived in fear. But their heroes would save them.

Of course they would.

On Friday, it was a warm day.

The Dupain-Chengs were dead, found together, bloody kisses on their foreheads.

Gabriel Agreste was missing. His desk was a wreck from where he had been thrown into it. His blood dripped from the oak.

The world fell apart. It was a warm day.

On Saturday, people cried out for help from their saviors. It was a quiet Saturday.

On Sunday, people stayed shaking at home.

On Monday, people went to work and school.

On Monday, Alya and Nino sat together for comfort.

On Monday, everybody was silent.

On Monday, Marinette and Adrien strolled into class.

They didn’t sit down, they just stopped after they entered the classroom, listening to the shocked gasps and surprised exclamations of their classmates and teacher as they stood as if they had never been missing. Alya jumped up, arm reached ever so slightly out. Nino trembled. Chloé was quiet.

They stood.

Adrien’s shoulders were rolled back, confident, and a smirk pulled at his face. Adrien never looked like that.

Marinette’s hand rested on her hip, standing slightly in front of her blond companion, face carefully blank and void. Marinette never looked like that.

Pink flashed around their eyes.

People panicked.

They smiled.

Adrien spoke first. He spoke about how stupid _He_ really was, how idiotic _He_ was to think _He_ could control people like _Them_. _He_ thought _He_ could control them, make _Them_ do what they wished.

Adrien said all _He’d_ done is remove the part of _Them_ that cared.

Marinette spoke second. She spoke about how, on that fateful Tuesday, at 11:00 at night, she’d gotten ready to go out like she always did to meet a friend. She said she’d gotten dressed in the appropriate gear and left through her trap door, as she did always.

She said she’d met up with her friend, they’d done a thankless job together, and then suddenly everything was clear.

She got it now.

She understood.

She understood how to win.

Adrien said he understood too. He understood that there was no longer just two sides.

Marinette said _He_ thought _He_ could control _Them_ as _He_ did with all _His_ victims. Marinette said _He_ was an idiot. 

Marinette said Hawkmoth was a fool.

Adrien laughed when Alya said Ladybug and Chat Noir would help them.

Because Chat Noir and Ladybug were dead.

Chat Noir and Ladybug were dead because _they got it now_. _They understood, don’t_ you _get it_?

Adrien’s grin went feral, he reached out with a hand, one coated in black fire, and watched as Madame Bustier dropped to the ground, eyes losing their shine in a moment. People screamed.

Pink flashed around their eyes.

Ladybug and Chat Noir were dead. They weren’t coming to help.

Pink fire crawled up their bodies, swirling higher and higher until they glowed like the _sun_ …

There was nothing but white remaining.

Mirrors shattered across the room as black energy twitched across their surfaces.

White claws and tails and yo-yos and staffs. White with red splattered across like ink. White with black spots in mockery of what once was. White with glowing magenta eyes like broken Christmas lights, the glow flickering across their faces and alighting feral grins.

_You either die a hero…_

_… or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I am attempting to write this big Miraculous AU that I've had in my head for a while, so purrr-haps a few critiques and comments would jump start me into being able to write a good first chapter. Thanks again!
> 
> \- KK


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